Interviews

Heather Sowards on EverQuest II

We talk to EverQuest II's audio director about the introduction of voiceovers in the game and how that will impact the final product.

As the Massively Multiplayer genre continues to grow, game developers continually seek the next great "thing", the next advancement - whether in game design or technology - that will put their game over the top. The original EverQuest certainly had nothing to be ashamed of when it came to graphical beauty. When it was released, the technological beauty of the title was light years beyond contemporaries such as Ultima Online.

EverQuest II, Sony Online's highly anticipated sequel, also looks like it will break new technological boundaries for the genre. Oh, it's graphically impressive, to be sure, but the real innovations in EverQuest II are in the audio, not the video. Sony Online Entertainment just announced that EverQuest II will be the first MMO to feature full voiceovers for every one of its hundreds of non-player characters that will be continually updated as the game evolves. Over 130 hours of recorded dialogue will ship with the product, utilizing the voice talents of over 100 well-known Hollywood voice actors.

GameSpy sat down with Heather Sowards, the project's audio director for a discussion about the voices of EverQuest II.

GameSpy: Can you give us the names of some of the actors involved in this project?

Sowards: We're still looking at a number of big-name actors to fill key roles for the game, and we hope to be able to announce them in the near future. EverQuest II is such a vast world with so many different characters that we will be using 200+ actors just to voice them all. (We have been working with many top-notch television and cartoon voice actors.) You may find yourself thinking some of the voices in EverQuest II sound very familiar; chances are you've heard the actors in several different things before.

GameSpy: How long have the recording sessions for EverQuest II been going on and are they close to being completed?

Sowards: This is a difficult question to answer, because developing voiceover for an MMORPG like EverQuest II is somewhat of an organic and abstract process. We don't have absolute deadlines like one would for console game development, and the scope for this game is mind-boggling. The content is constantly evolving and changing and it is the audio team's job to try and evolve and keep up with these changes. That said, I'll try and answer your question.
Voiceover sessions began before Christmas. They will continue through ship. We plan to add new voice as we add new quests to the game and offer it via optional patches. I don't really expect us to ever be finished with the voiceovers as the game will continue to evolve and new content will be added regularly.

What does he have to say?

GameSpy: Will every NPC in the game have their own voiceover? How many characters will be in the game at launch?

Sowards: Every NPC that talks will have voiceover. Every quest-based NPC will have its own unique voiceover. NPCs that are populating cities and zones for "flavor" will share some voiceover in certain categories. However, the plan is to keep repetition down. New flavor voiceover will be swapped in for the old periodically to keep things fresh.

Who wants to run through a city 500 times and hear and see the same person standing by a lamp post saying "Hail, Citizen! I hope you find your day to be fair!" over and over again? That's the kind of thing that drives people to turn off the audio. We are currently planning for approximately 1700 characters to have voice in the game at launch.
Yes it is true... I don't sleep.

There will be as much dialogue in EverQuest II as in 65 feature films.

GameSpy: Does this mean that in-game storylines will be tighter and more integrated than the first EverQuest and will quests be abandoned or retired as the world's storyline moves forward?

Sowards: Our goal is to create a living fantasy world that constantly calls the player to immerse himself (or herself) in the reality we provide. Because of this, we've focused on creating an open-ended environment that serves as the foundation for numerous stories. Our characters have lives and interests that will involve the players in everything from personal grudges to titanic struggles for power. Rather than a single strong narrative, EverQuest II provides a universe of imagination and possibility.